Dan Patrick is congratulated by his wife, Jan, at his election-night watch party in Houston. Patrick trounced incumbent David Dewhurst in a runoff to claim the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.

Dan Patrick is congratulated by his wife, Jan, at his election-night watch party in Houston. Patrick trounced incumbent David Dewhurst in a runoff to claim the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.

AUSTIN - State Sen. Dan Patrick, riding a wave of tea-party popularity from relative obscurity as a Houston radio talk-show host to statewide prominence in just eight years, defeated incumbent David Dewhurst on Tuesday to win the Republican nomination to become Texas' next lieutenant governor.

The dramatic win, two months after Dewhurst came in a distant second in the GOP primary, signaled a likely end to the career of Texas' No. 2 elected official, a multimillionaire Houston energy entrepreneur once seen as a likely choice to be governor.

Dewhurst was the first statewide officeholder to lose a primary or runoff in years.

In other statewide contests Tuesday, tea-party backed candidates were victorious in many GOP down-ballot races, from attorney general to agriculture commissioner to local legislative races - a contrast to other states where establishment Republicans won over tea-party candidates in recent primaries.

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Dewhurst conceded defeat in a phone call to Patrick shortly after 8:30 p.m., half an hour after the polls closed in El Paso and after Patrick posted a double-digit percentage lead.

Minutes later, Patrick predicted his victory was part of a "change election" that will see conservative Republicans sweep statewide races in November. He told supporters in Houston he will push to limit state spending, cut taxes and reiterated earlier pledges to limit the power of Democrats in the Senate.

"This election means we're going into November with a very strong ticket with candidates elected by the most conservative voter base in the nation and a team that can articulate the issues the way Texans want them to be," he said. "The Democrats have chosen Battleground Texas, and they've chosen the wrong battleground.

"Call it a shellacking or a butt-kicking," said Cal Jillson, a Southern Methodist University political science professor who has been following the race. "It means Dewhurst's days in public office are limited, and he's about to become a private citizen."

Patrick, 64, an ebullient and outgoing one-time salesman and successful businessman who billed himself as the "authentic conservative" in the race, has served in the state Senate since 2007, championing support for property tax relief, Second Amendment rights, stopping abortions, limiting government spending and other limited-government stances.

Patrick will face a colleague, San Antonio state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, a Democrat, in the November general election. In a statement queuing up that race, Van de Putte said "it's time that politicians like Dan Patrick put their toxic rhetoric to rest."

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Patrick has drawn criticism from Democrats over his stances on illegal immigration and securing the border. Democrats hope that having Van de Putte, a respected Latina state senator on the ticket, will help their chances with Hispanic voters in November.

Dewhurst, 68, a successful Houston businessman first elected to public office as land commissioner in 1998, has served as lieutenant governor since 2003.

"I don't think anybody runs for office unless they think they can win. And I wanted to win this election for you," Dewhurst told supporters, his voice choked with emotion. He said he will support Patrick and the rest of the GOP ticket in November.

While he and Patrick agreed on many issues, Dewhurst was unable to shake a campaign perception created by Patrick that he was less conservative than most Texas Republicans wanted in a leader.

Dewhurst also was hurt by a surprise loss in July 2012 to Ted Cruz, when he ran to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison in the U.S. Senate. Although he started out as the front-runner, he lost after putting more than $20 million of his personal fortune into a runoff race that went negative in its final days. Campaign finance reports show Dewhurst put at least $5 million of his own money into the runoff he lost Tuesday.

Last week, in prescient comments about the negative campaign with Patrick, Dewhurst had told supporters in Houston that politicians at some point needed to get back to their business, to make up money they lost while serving in office.

Patrick's win came after weeks of some of Texas' nastiest and most personal campaigning in years, as details of his hospitalization twice during the 1980s for mental-health issues became an issue. That, however, seemed only to cement Patrick's support among die-hard, conservative GOP voters, and completed a campaign run that seemed a long shot to many when he announced his candidacy late last summer.

During his tenure in the Senate, Patrick gained a reputation as a strident partisan who sometimes irritated colleagues of both parties for his tendency to play to his base of ultra-conservative voters. By contrast, Dewhurst was known for his overly detailed approach in addressing issues, at times appearing to drag out decisions, in what he insisted was thoughtful deliberation.

Some legislative leaders had speculated that Dewhurst may retire after he lost to Cruz, and after a trusted campaign adviser was accused in December 2012 of siphoning millions of dollars from campaign accounts undetected. Dewhurst decided to run for election again, hinting it may be his final time.